the designs are beautiful and i can’t wait for chpt 18!
a couple of things though:
1)where is the rest of the queen’s left arm?
2) the flying guardian in the upper left looks like he’s about to get his head sliced off by the other guardian’s wing.

I think they are just being proper. Alex is the king of dreamland at the moment, so it is only proper to use the title. If memory serves, the ancient Egyptians did not have a term like “your highness,” so they would default to the closest title.

Or maybe Scott did not want a speech bubble that would block out half the page to say, “Welcome to Seraphopolis, Your Highness Alexander, Brother of the One True King, Proxy of his Benevolent Rule within the Realms of Dreamland, Duke of Sammiches, Advisor to the Grilled Cheese People of Goudavia, and all around swell guy.”

Umm… I know that ‘Seraphim’ is the Hebrew plural noun from ‘saraph’ (verb). ‘Saraph’ means ‘burn’. The term ‘seraphim’ or ‘seraphs’ can refer to an order of angels, but it also means ‘burning ones’. However, they are not the highest level of angels. ‘Archangel’ is the highest, and there is only one (Michael). You can see a short description of these creatures in Isaiah 6.
I’m just wondering how much of the ‘traditional’ seraph you’ll put in your story. Will you have ‘neo-angels’, or semi-orthodox angels, or what? 🙂

Pronounce it like “serif oppolis”. A “seraph” is a kind of angel (the term comes from Hebrew), and “-opolis” is a popular suffix for a city (as in “Metropolis”), coming from the Greek word “polis”, meaning a city-state. So “Seraphopolis” suggests “city of angels”.

Her arm is behind her back. 🙂 Also, the angle of the light is coming in from the upper right and she has her back turned to it. That may be why there is not as much shading on her face…she is basically in shadow.

And she’s gorgeous! Great character designs. Is the young man behind them the prince?

1) I have a feeling, with that greeting, we’ll be seeing the rebuttal to last chapter’s point of view on kingship. Presenting different views on a hard subject (like what makes a ruler’s claim proper) is often very interesting.

2) It’s an interesting choice to make Egyptian descendants phenotypically African. The royal dynasties no doubt shifted between various “races” in Egypt’s long history, and there has been a lot of debate when attempting to do reconstructions of their faces what is appropriate. I can’t remember off the top of my head what current scholarship suggests to be the phenotype background of Ramses II and probably couldn’t find it without dragging down obscure textbooks on the subject of race and culture political shifts in Ancient Egypt. From a layman’s view, I think the African phenotype is a good choice to avoid “whitewashed fantasy” (something that has not afflicted the Dreamland Chronicles, but is common, perhaps naturally, in fantasy works with the usual European roots)

3) Stained glass robo-wings! Awesome! I really do love this design already. The color scheme picked (teal, gold, and a little red-brown) is gorgeous and very reminiscent of what remnants we have of ancient Egyptian art still in possession of their paint without directly copying, well, anything that I’ve seen. But there seems to be a wing without an owner extending from behind Pharaoh to cover much of the left half of the image. It seems a bit foreground to belong to the standing guard on the right.

But remember that Africa has some widely divergent “races.” I suspect the Negro was not much seen in “Classical” Egypt, as they were closer to the Nubian “Nilotics” (think Masai: tall and slender), while the Copts were more closely related to the Semites and Berbers.

There is something I think you should know. Scientists did a DNA study of King Tut. and found that King Tut is related to 70% of Europeans current day so therefore, I do believe that the Egyptians were closely related to the early Europeans. So the tale of Anthony marrying Cleopatra their children would have had the same genetic make up and not be seen as half breed. Just helping out.

Except, of course, that the Pharaoh Tutankhamun lived about 1300 years before Cleopatra, and Cleopatra was a descendant of Alexander the Great’s general Ptolemy, a Macedonian, which means there was likely little or no relationship between Cleopatra and Tutankhamun.

I think it was referenced at one point that they have capabilities similar to Niviene’s spying pool. That, and they could just fly around watching stuff. Given what we’ve seen of their technology so far, I would assume they have pretty good binoculars/telescopes if nothing better.

My thanks also go to Dreamies, for their comments and TWC votes. Speaking of which, it’s #4 with 590 votes against #3’s 630. C’mon friends. The chapter is over but the story goes on. Help others discover Dreamland, keep voting!

Talk about teasers. Now I have to wait TWO whole weeks before the story starts up again. I feel like I’m anticipating the opening weekend of the most anticipated movie of the year. Which, when this comes out on big screen, I will be giddy with delight. Uncontrollably giddy!!!
Can’t figure out who’s wing that is that looks like it belongs to the king (if he doesn’t have his)
The queen looks like she’s missing a little color. Like an unpainted Jessie from Toy Story 2.

*Is female and has stood guard duty* Really now? Also, many African tribal societies as well as ancient egyptians had females as elite guards for the wives and daughters of pharaohs. I can pull out my books if you want. But, as you say, a handful of advanced scouts, does not and army make. And second, I really don’t see why the inclusion of women in Dreamland military is all that important.

Well, a question of definition. They had to think of the name of Nivene (Dan), ask the correct people (Meermaids), fight some big sea snakes, find the correct person, get her (was easy, but required listening to snarky remarks) to lead them to the magic elevator, then jump from island to island to finally arrive.
Told like this, not as easy as taking the metro to go to work…

Seems like an awful lot to cram into one chapter…does that mean you’ve decided to speed things up and end it in chapter 18? it’d be a real shame to come this far, only to sacrifice the storytelling just to get the comic over with…

We’re number 1! We’re number 1! The margin is still too narrow for comfort, though… a difference of 90. But even if we end out the month in the top five, it’s nice to know that Dreamland was in the number 1 spot for a while, just as it deserves!

I have a humble request, Desmond. Is there any chance I could get you to switch from calling us “Dreamies” to calling us “Dreamers”?

This is purely for selfish reasons, I admit: years ago, when I was at the forefront of drumming up TWC votes for The Dreamland Chronicles, I got in the habit of calling everyone Dreamers. Now, every time you say “Dreamers” there’s a little voice in the back of my head that shouts “not Dreamies, Dreamers!” at me. I tell it to shush, that the terminology doesn’t matter as long as people are voting. But I’d really like to shut the little sucker up for good.

So … “Dreamers”? What do you think?

(And the voting link is still under my name, for any of my fellow Dreamers that still haven’t voted yet.)

A preview would be nice, too, but I realize this is a comments section, not a forum, so it may not be possible. Would be nice, though…

And yes, I also prefer “Dreamers” to “Dreamies”… the first one is one who dreams, whereas the second one sounds like a colloquialism for someone who’s “a dream” (aka a catch, handsome/pretty, or some such).

The problem I have with changing from “Dreamies” to “Dreamers” is that I associate the term “Dreamers” with the folks following “The Dreamer.” That said, I would qualify for both terms, but following the two comics makes it difficult to keep the fan terms straight. 😛

Not saying that your commentary on the epic-ness of Chapter 18 is off by any means, Scott, but I think every chapter has seemed as if it was huge and major before it began. 🙂 I remember thinking that it was a big deal to learn that there had been other human adults in Dreamland who had been kings. Of course, this past chapter also had a lot packed in as well…including the most emotionally impactful character you’ve created so far (I don’t think Nic even inspired as much ire as Niviene)…who happens to be the prettiest of the females you’ve created so far too IMO. 🙂

I never understood why acient egyptians were always viewed as being black. Its not the fact that they were black but that they were out in such extreme heat so often they got really tanned. That being said, amazing page Scott, the wings are especially beautiful. 🙂

Middle Eastern-esque is what I always thought. Dark hair and medium skin. I wouldn’t say their skin was dark because they were in the sun, I’m sure they were born with it, but they seemed (according to their painting colors) to like to think of themselves as fairer skinned. I like the term bronze-skinned. Sounds very pretty, but just mho =D

As for “dreamland”, these people came from the Ramessides who were unlikely to be very Nubian (see my post below). And no Egyptian then or now dreams of being black. You will be shocked to hear what north Africans really think of zanjis.

Signed, someone with Berber and Near-Eastern ancestry who used to live in Algeria.

Actually it depends on who the invaders were at the time. Yes, there was a period of blacks, but there were also the perisan, macidonians, and then the romans (quite colorful lot).

But also keep in mind that there is a theory that ‘egyptians’ did not build the pyramids or the sphinx. Keep in mind that there were civilizations that existed that we know NOTHING about. We know there are civilizations that played with nuclear warfare (the sites still show as radioactive).

I would say that civilization climbed, fell, climbed again, fell again, and we’re climbing again, but without realizing that we are repeating a lot of the same technology (we’re basically re-discovering it, not inventing it).

Frankly, a lot of what we presume we know about ancient Egypt was passed down by white European explorers and archeologists who refused to believe that black Africans were capable of creating such a complex and dynamic civilization, so they focused more on the later, Post-Rameses, Libyan-Greco-Roman dynasties who were fairer skinned and therefore more palatable to European sensitivities, and retconned the earlier dynasties, about which less was known, to match their preference. And by labeling any pesky dark skinned Egyptians on the temple walls Nubians, Ethiopians, or just slaves, the European self-taught experts further disenfranchised the African progenitors.

The later Greco-Roman conquests didn’t begin until after Rameses, and well after the pyramids were built; the Middle Eastern incursion didn’t happen till the 7th c. AD; as one scholar puts it, “Arabs have no more connection to Ancient Egypt than Europeans have to Ancient America.”

So by being descendents of Rameses era Egypt, the Seraphopoleans are being portrayed, for a fantasy work, pretty close to reality.

Hardly. The Ramessides in the 19th dynasty were from the Nile Delta, very close to Canaan. On the western side they had Berbers. All of these peoples spoke “Afro-Asiatic” languages and can be assumed to be kin to each other. They weren’t any of them Negroid (as the classifications go).

Also LOL at “disenfranchising” the dead. I guess that’s not a problem for most Afrocentrists, because theit dead most definitely have the electoral franchise, in large numbers…

DX Gah! Why must I find all excellent webcomics in the middle of a break or when they’re done?? took me 3 days to catch up. Not my best time, but some of the scenes were so hilarious they called for extra reading. Such as the Princess Bride references. First time ‘inconceivable’ showed up, I couldn’t stop laughing for 5 minutes! XD And the art…I’ve never seen a webcomic with this style before. Quite unique, and, in my opinion, better than the normal cartoony types. 😛 I shall wait as patiently as possible for the next chapter as well as the next chocolate bars I’ll get…just finished my last one. DX

We’re ready this time. It’s taken months of preparations, but now we’re set. Supplies are stocked, and I am confident that we’ll all make it through alive. It’s up to us to survive on our own for the next few weeks. Your survival is now in your hands.
Whether or not you see the first page of Chapter 18 depends entirely on how well you use the skills you’ve developed during the previous chapters. Carry out frequent rereads. Update a page or two on the Dreamland Chronicles Wiki. Post here on the comment board. Click on adds. But most important of all, Vote.
There will be many dangers in the days ahead. Without proper TDC substitute, some of you may risk becoming genuinely productivity at work. Others face the perilous chances of completing school assignments without approved distractions. But don’t let these discourage you. Just stay focused on the goal, and you will be rewarded with the promised 18th chapter.

I think this may well qualify as my favorite comment of all time. Why, you ask? Because I’d checked all of my comics from work and was about to start actually working when I realized how little time had elapsed since I sat down at my computer. If I started working diligently now my boss might catch on that I sometimes get lost on these pages for half an hour by the time TDC comes back. 🙂 So I came back to read the comments.

Niviene knows Alex is currently the king. She just believes he should abdicate in favor of Daniel, who by rights would have become king if Nic hadn’t thrown the not-quite-dead-not-quite-alive-Arthur into the mix. 🙂 Yay for complicated!

I think folks forget. The ONLY reason Daniel has never been able to go to Dreamland is because he was the rightful king. Alex got to Dreamland like all other children because he was not in line to be king and therefore Arthur’s existence there was no impediment to him.

I didn’t forget that Dan is the rightful king by birth, but frankly birth or no – it’s a matter of how the people see it. That’s why Nicodemus was King for so long, the people SAW him as the king and obeyed.
As long as he has those who will view him as their king and will follow him, Alex is the ruler.

Besides, since the King is unable to fulfill his duties of the crown, wouldn’t the responsibility and title simply go to the next in line?

I’m not disputing that Alex is the ruler right now. I was pointing out (as was Nicole) that Niviene’s position was that Alex should abdicate in favor of his brother since Dan was the rightful heir. It’s 100% true that a king cannot have power if others do not believe in his right to rule or support him. Alex has followers, so he has power as king…but that does not mean he cannot step down in favor of Dan.

And, no, it doesn’t appear that kingship should go to the “next in line” because in Dreamland, kingship is not given along familial lines. It is mystical how the kings are chosen–they are not descendents of one another. It’s possible that Alex was allowed to claim the sword because (at the time) it was the only possible way to get the sword to Dan. Alex is honorable, and the sword could possibly sense that. The fate of the kingship of Dreamland is in the hands of Alex and Dan.

Huh…I don’t think “my dear” is in and of itself patronizing. It depends on how it’s used. I use it playfully with my husband from time to time, and I can guarantee I’m not being patronizing when I do. 🙂

I use “m’dear” a lot and sure don’t mean it in a patronizing way. But I have noticed every now and then that some folks seem taken aback by it. So I try to make sure I’ve got a relationship solidly in place before I start using it. 🙂

Adding to what a previous poster stated, ancient Egyptians were not black, they were descended from Iranians. They had some African admixture + Greek/Roman influence. Additionally, studies have shown that Ramses’s mummy had red hair and a hooknose. Just sayin’. 😡